Give him credit or call him crazy, but Washington Nationals closer Sean Doolittle is determined to return from injury and pitch again this season, despite the Nats being nearly dead in the water.
So what if the Nats are a game under .500 and 8.5 games back of the Braves, in third place in the National League East.
Who cares if half of the bullpen has turned over due to injury (Kelvin Herrara) and trades (Ryan Madson, Brandon Kintzler and Shawn Kelley), or that the team has effectively thrown in the towel by shedding contracts for veterans like Gio Gonzalez, Daniel Murphy and Matt Adams.
Doolittle has a job to do on this team and has been unable to do it since having a stress reaction in his foot that kept him out of the home All-Star Game. Now, he wants to make up for lost time.
“I just want to get back with the guys,” he told MASN's Mark Zuckerman. “I really want to be able to contribute down the stretch and be able to go back about my daily routines and my business as usual. I miss competing. I miss being out there in the bullpen with the guys.
"Regardless of what the standings say, we still have a month left. I’m excited to get back out there. I’m excited that I’m continuing to make progress. This won’t be something that I have to deal with over the offseason. I can go back to having a normal offseason, rather than trying to rehab my foot in the winter.
"It’s been tempting at times to really try to speed it up, but I think we’ve done a good job of staying the course and making sure we hit all our checkpoints coming back."
That's admirable, but perhaps foolish, especially if he reinjures his foot and has to change his offseason schedule.
Regardless, Zuckerman says that Doolittle he faced teammates in a simulated situation and threw 15 pitches at about 85 percent. According to manager Dave Martinez, he will continue to work with trainers this week and see how things progress.
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